Just did the Goblin starting zone...

[Seegtease]

And now I'm sad.

I decided I would read every quest for once rather than skim, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed it, thought the story was great and entertaining, and I felt like an actual valuable character. I was, I wasn't just some dude wandering in some starter zone killing troggs or something. I was important and had people who knew who I was.

I followed through the story and got to know the people from area to area in the zone as we migrated through it.

Then I left the zone, and hit Kalimdor, sent into Azshara. Now, I'm nobody. The people that I got to know in those beginning times are now gone or scattered. I don't feel like my character matters anymore, and that's sad.

It was like reading a good book where I'm a the renowned protagonist, then the book suddenly changes and I'm a nobody with no relevant storyline. All the development in the first half of the book is wasted, since none of it matters anymore. It's sad.

I guess I wish the story would just continue, maybe some more people might still know me by name. I just took a quest from Assistant Greely in Azshara and she didn't even acknowledge who I was! It's great that they made the Goblin and Worgen starting zones so epic and all, but I just wish it didn't die there.

[Feral Camel]

Interesting way to look at it. I personally thought we were too well known. I'd rather of had our character in more of the "shit kicker" role rather then the second in charge.

---------- Post added 2013-01-29 at 06:44 AM ----------

Also you should go visit Sassy Hardwrench in the Cape of Stranglethorn. She remembers you!

[Chrno]

The fact that you start out as a nobody is what kept me chained to my pc the first year during vanilla making a name for myself.. different ways to look at it i guess

ps. did like the goblin area allot!

[Seegtease]

The fact that you start out as a nobody is what kept me chained to my pc the first year during vanilla making a name for myself.. different ways to look at it i guess

ps. did like the goblin area allot!

With fellow players, I get that. I dunno, as for games, I find the storytelling to be much more engaging, easy to follow, and fun if I'm playing someone of significance. Heck, even in pen and paper RPGs you may start out as nobody, but your reputation precedes you as you get places. Not so much the case in WoW. The dialogue is always the same for quest givers no matter what your past deeds are.

---------- Post added 2013-01-29 at 06:57 AM ----------

Interesting way to look at it. I personally thought we were too well known. I'd rather of had our character in more of the "shit kicker" role rather then the second in charge.

---------- Post added 2013-01-29 at 06:44 AM ----------

Also you should go visit Sassy Hardwrench in the Cape of Stranglethorn. She remembers you!

That's good to know!

I just wish our character had meaningful friendships with the NPCs and they would return more often. I enjoyed Uldum mostly because I kept working with certain people all over the zone so I DID feel important there. Actually, most of the cata zones were good about this. Still, I wish the game could be more dynamic in how people treat you based on your history. I guess maybe in a different MMO, eh?

[Deleted]

Well, isn't it like in RL? When you move somewhere you are not so well known as you were at your previous home. You kinda have to get your rep back, meet new people etc...

[Seegtease]

Well, isn't it like in RL? When you move somewhere you are not so well known as you were at your previous home. You kinda have to get your rep back, meet new people etc...

I suppose, I don't feel weird when interacting with Orcs, but I guess I feel anyone in the Bilgewater Cartel should at least remember me, being that I did so much in getting them off the island.

[Darsithis]

It can be sad at times to leave the well-written start zones for some races, like draenei (ever do the entire set? You get a tabard and a cheering crowd!) and move onto the rest of the game but look at it as a chance to make a name in the wide world of Azeroth vs just a small area.

[the0o]

I found it fitting of the goblin culture to reduce you to nothing when Deathwing nuked the isle. You lost your empire/money/girl-boy friend and was sold as a slave. At that point you should have to build yourself back up.

In my opinion the DK starting area was nothing short of epic. nuking a town, raiding a ship, destorying an army, then riding with one to take out pitiful little force, finding out you where used as bait and watching the LK get beat back to northrend was AMAZING.

Pandaren starting zone was cool too.

[Justignoreme]

While you may feel you are a nobody, thats not necessarily true. Look at it this way, your exploits (and the reputation you gained) made a name for yourself.
You graduate secondary school as a valedictorian and go on to a prestigious university, you may feel like a nobody but you're there because you did so well in secondary, but now you are even keel with everyone else and need to once again work your way to prominence. You do amazing things at said university and graduate with honours which secures you a track for a top ranking graduate school or w/e. Follows the same pathway.

Sometimes you do make a "friendship" with an NPC it just takes an expansion cycle and relocating of the NPC to show it, like Gryan Stoutmantle, pre-cata Westfall you earned his respect, he remembers it when you serve under him in Northrend, and then post-cata Westfall he remembers you yet again. The worst is seeing NPCs you were familiar with gone for good, like in Darkshore.

[Seegtease]

I found it fitting of the goblin culture to reduce you to nothing when Deathwing nuked the isle. You lost your empire/money/girl-boy friend and was sold as a slave. At that point you should have to build yourself back up.

In my opinion the DK starting area was nothing short of epic. nuking a town, raiding a ship, destorying an army, then riding with one to take out pitiful little force, finding out you where used as bait and watching the LK get beat back to northrend was AMAZING.

Pandaren starting zone was cool too.

Eh, as a DK I still felt like a mook. There were tons of DKs being spawned, running everywhere (not just players, NPCs) and you weren't really treated as anything TOO special (yeah, you got sent to fly a dragon and bomb stuff, but still). You were being used, so it felt right. No one will know your name, because you are just a filthy death knight. There are no real friendships formed.

I know you lost your power status when Deathwing nuked Kezan, but you were still keeping your reputation with the Cartel while hanging out in the lost isles. Everybody knew who you were, even Thrall. You may have lost your power, but you still had your reputation.

At the very least, I just kind of wish that anybody who is part of the Bilgewater Cartel would recognize you rather than treat you the same way they treat a blood elf or undead. I don't expect to be world famous, but I did hope to be famous amongst the Cartel, as I was on the lost isles.

[Itisamuh]

Interesting how differently the playerbase can look at things. I thought it was easily the worst zone in the entire game (particularly the first half, second half was alright.) That is, until Valley of the Four Winds came out and stole the crown of worst zone imaginable.

I do agree, however, that having your character actually matter makes the game better. To me that was the very best thing about Star Wars, your character was central to the story, a very important figure, rather than some nobody running errands for the important people.

[Sky High]

the goblin starter areas are by far the best this game has ever come up with IMHO. not just for the fact that the zones, quests, music, characters....well never mind it was just for that reason. the fact that your character was an up and comer that was in a position to take Galywinx off his throne but then had to make the decision to save your friends over your hard earned cash was what makes me love my goblin character, that you do the very ungolbinly thing of saving everyone over saving yourself, and then having to start from square one afterwards doesn't bug me anyway.

[Essenji]

You should go to Stonetalon Mountain to get famous again It's quite a good story line where you advance through the ranks.
But yeah, it's really hard to make a sense of linear progression in an MMO, especially one that has grown as big as WoW.

[MrHappy]

think of that as intentional. Are you a hero that fought the legion? Have you been part of the war effort to bring down lich king? Are you able to face deathwing and his generals? You were a savior of your people on a remote and unknown island...but are you a hero of the horde? the fact that you are essentially a nobody is a driving force to conquer your enemies, become the exalted champion of your nation's allies, and make your name known through out Azeroth...your story did not end there...it only has begun

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

Well I had the same with the Worgen. Though, as a Goblin, you get to see a lot of your brethren around Azeroth and seeing as you haven't suffered a major blow like the Worgen, you feel much better to rebuild your life.

The Worgen however have the weirdest ending ever. 3 Famous lord commit suicide, your King loses his son and aparently the whole battle stops at a certain point. Then it's a big middlefinger and go enjoy yourself, seeing hardly any Worgen. The worst part is; the Horde even get MORE worgen-quests than the Alliance.
There we see that the 3 lords are actually undead risen and we see how the battle stops when Crowley asks for his daughter back.

Yet we never hear from those things again...

We see a big statue of Gallywix in Azshara, yet his ingame-model looks NOTHING like it. He tried to sell you off as a slave and kill Thrall, and GETS AWAY WITH IT...
Genn Greymane loses his son and turns into a worgen and has the most bland model ever. He just chills out in Stormwind. He's not even talking to Varian. Just standing... And the whole battle? The forsaken are doing nothing and the Worgen are doing nothing! The Night Elves came to help them, but you can only see them taking the worgen away and shooting glaves in the end of the Worgen-zone. The humans of Stormwind were spoken of to have come, but youi only see their ships...

Cataclysm butchered some of the narratives

While you may feel you are a nobody, thats not necessarily true. Look at it this way, your exploits (and the reputation you gained) made a name for yourself.
You graduate secondary school as a valedictorian and go on to a prestigious university, you may feel like a nobody but you're there because you did so well in secondary, but now you are even keel with everyone else and need to once again work your way to prominence. You do amazing things at said university and graduate with honours which secures you a track for a top ranking graduate school or w/e. Follows the same pathway.

Sometimes you do make a "friendship" with an NPC it just takes an expansion cycle and relocating of the NPC to show it, like Gryan Stoutmantle, pre-cata Westfall you earned his respect, he remembers it when you serve under him in Northrend, and then post-cata Westfall he remembers you yet again. The worst is seeing NPCs you were familiar with gone for good, like in Darkshore.

I felt that way too yeah. Seeing all those NPC's in Darkshore you loved.... dead

[delus]

The Gilnean nobles who were raised as forsaken all get killed in the SFK story but yeah, a lot unanswered.

[Skytotem]

And now I'm sad.

I decided I would read every quest for once rather than skim, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed it, thought the story was great and entertaining, and I felt like an actual valuable character. I was, I wasn't just some dude wandering in some starter zone killing troggs or something. I was important and had people who knew who I was.

I followed through the story and got to know the people from area to area in the zone as we migrated through it.

Then I left the zone, and hit Kalimdor, sent into Azshara. Now, I'm nobody. The people that I got to know in those beginning times are now gone or scattered. I don't feel like my character matters anymore, and that's sad.

It was like reading a good book where I'm a the renowned protagonist, then the book suddenly changes and I'm a nobody with no relevant storyline. All the development in the first half of the book is wasted, since none of it matters anymore. It's sad.

I guess I wish the story would just continue, maybe some more people might still know me by name. I just took a quest from Assistant Greely in Azshara and she didn't even acknowledge who I was! It's great that they made the Goblin and Worgen starting zones so epic and all, but I just wish it didn't die there.

Really? I hated it, I wanted to have my own version of the story in my head, I mean the characters were NICE and all but it was stupid in my eyes to have me, the next guy, and the NEXT GUY and every other player all 'the boss' of those NPCs.


I like being able to have my own backstory not be railroaded down this path that... everyone else is already on? All the goblin and worgen characters are the same person? Wut?

[Seegtease]

Really? I hated it, I wanted to have my own version of the story in my head, I mean the characters were NICE and all but it was stupid in my eyes to have me, the next guy, and the NEXT GUY and every other player all 'the boss' of those NPCs.


I like being able to have my own backstory not be railroaded down this path that... everyone else is already on? All the goblin and worgen characters are the same person? Wut?

It's not inconceivable that they were also rising potential princes (at least some of them). Besides, you could just ignore that and think of other goblins you see as some of the citizens you helped rescue. You don't have to know their backstory (unless you're RPing, I guess, that makes things complicated). I see why doing this kind of thing is tricky in an online game, but still, it feels good.

think of that as intentional. Are you a hero that fought the legion? Have you been part of the war effort to bring down lich king? Are you able to face deathwing and his generals? You were a savior of your people on a remote and unknown island...but are you a hero of the horde? the fact that you are essentially a nobody is a driving force to conquer your enemies, become the exalted champion of your nation's allies, and make your name known through out Azeroth...your story did not end there...it only has begun

Woah, I didn't mean to imply that. I don't expect Garrosh or Syvannas to give a rat's ass about me. I don't expect your typical Troll or Tauren to know who I am. What I DO expect is to have some kind of reputation amongst the goblins of the Cartel. Is that so much to ask? Sure, it would require making seperate dialogue for all goblin players, but it sure would be cool.

Really, I think reputations should have a larger impact with how NPCs talk to you. If I were exalted with Thunder Bluff, I would expect many of the people there to know my name and maybe have something good to say. Sure, this could be generic for all players who were exalted, but it would still really help with immersion into the world and make it feel like I'm really in a role playing game.

It's not so bad with the other races, since they just pop up and appear in the middle of nowhere. I mean, storyline-wise, why was your Night Elf just standing in the middle of Teldrassil? How did they get there? What were they doing before that? The Draenei make sense - you just woke up from after the accident (sure, we have timeline problems, but at least the story makes sense). What is my Dwarf doing in Coldridge? Who sent him there?

After seeing all those races with such a bland beginning, it makes me expect a lot more when they give me an actual story to work with.

[Deleted]

It can be sad at times to leave the well-written start zones for some races, like draenei (ever do the entire set? You get a tabard and a cheering crowd!) and move onto the rest of the game but look at it as a chance to make a name in the wide world of Azeroth vs just a small area.

Exactly what I think... And btw, the tworow crowd cheering was really great ending of the whole draeneri starting experience, with all the kneeling, respect and you know, the cheering! Definitely my favourite starting area! And when you get back, they remember...

[Seegtease]

Exactly what I think... And btw, the tworow crowd cheering was really great ending of the whole draeneri starting experience, with all the kneeling, respect and you know, the cheering! Definitely my favourite starting area! And when you get back, they remember...

Obviously. The Naaru have not forgotten you.